These prayers of commitment were inspired by the themes of the Belhar Confession. They can be used in worship to help your church make a commitment to the Belhar Confession’s call for unity, reconciliation, and justice.
Congregational prayer of commitment
Lord, as you have taught us,
we bow down before you in all humility, gentleness and patience,
supporting each other with love
and trying to keep the unity of the spirit by the bonds of peace,
that we may become “one body and one spirit,”
according to our common calling and vocation.
With one voice, repenting of our divisions,
we commit ourselves to working together
for reconciliation, peace, and justice,
and we stand together in imploring you:
help us to live as your disciples,
overcoming selfishness and arrogance, hatred and violence;
give us the strength to forgive.
Inspire our witness in the world,
that we might foster a culture of dialogue,
and be bearers of the hope which your gospel has implanted in us.
Make us instruments of your peace,
so that our homes and communities,
our parishes, churches, and nations might resonate more fully
with the peace you have long desired to bestow upon us. Amen.
–Submitted by Nolan Palsma
Prayer of commitment litany
God has reconciled us to God’s own self and to one another,
and has made us one community of love.
We celebrate God’s gift of unity, and claim it as our calling.
Separation, enmity and hatred are sins that Christ has already conquered;
they have no place here among the beloved of God.
God has given us many ways to enjoy our unity.
We commit ourselves to bless one another.
We will keep the one faith and fulfill our one calling.
We will be of one soul and mind.
We will share one baptism, eat one bread, and drink one cup.
We will confess one Name, and share one hope.
We will bear one another’s burdens and build eaach other up.
We will suffer together for the sake of God’s righteousness.
We will pray together and serve God together.
We will fight together against everything that threatens our unity.
We will use our differences to serve Christ, one another, an the world.
We celebrate God’s gift of unity, and claim it as our calling.
–Submitted by Paul Janssen
